The global economy slowdown, digital disruption, together with the Covid 19 pandemic impact, presented a challenge for the media industry in Indonesia as a whole.
While Free-to-Air (FTA) TV remains by far the dominant media in Indonesia, consumption of digital media is growing at a much faster rate, driven by improved 4G network coverage and greater availability of digital content within the Indonesian ecosystem. That said, FTA TV clearly continues to be an important part of the media landscape as it still has the widest coverage in Indonesia, reaching well over 200 million people and is still the main choice of advertisers, absorbing more than 50% and based on Media Partners Asia projection, FTA TV industry will grow 7,5% in year 2021 as the result of economic recovery.
For VIVA group, the digital disruption represents both challenges and opportunities for the business going forward. We believe that we can develop strong digital assets, to complement our core FTA TV platforms in the form of ANTV and tvOne, towards realizing our long term plan of becoming a leading, integrated FTA TV/digital media ecosystem with a strong intellectual property (IP) portfolio. To this end, we focused on nurturing internal and external collaboration towards creating winning content to strengthen our FTA TV and digital platforms.
In terms of its FTA TV viewers, both ANTV and tvOne maintained their leading status during the year. tvOne did particularly well thanks to its strong news, talkshow, and sports programs, and once again ranked as #1 TV station for news and sport in Indonesia. ANTV also continued to attract strong audience ratings for its family and entertainment broadcast content, especially outside Jakarta. In 2020, ANTV once again became the #1 FTA TV channel outside of Jakarta for 6 consecutive years in big cities such as Surabaya and Makassar, with average TVS of 14.8%. This achievement is important as these areas still have untapped potential for advertising growth.
On the digital side, VIVA Networks was launched as the digital arm of VIVA, to encourage synergy and collaboration between various VIVA business units as well as to drive the digital transformations to expand its audience reach and give advertisers a wider choice of advertising media, ultimately optimizing the Company’s overall business processes. VIVA Networks currently owns and operates a number of digital portals including viva.co.id, intipseleb.com, jagodangdut.com and others, all of which appeal to specific communities. In addition, ANTV and tvOne strengthened their digital content and presence as measured by their digital follower and subscriber engagement.
In order to seize the emerging opportunities created by the disruption of conventional media in the Industry 4.0 era collaboration is essential. Thus far, we have increased internal collaboration and synergy between FTA TV and digital plaforms, both on tvOne as well as ANTV so as to encourage audience engagement and provide a wider target audience for advertisers. Moreover VIVA group has sought to increase collaborations with third parties. For example, ANTV’s in collaboration with local content creators, produced “Patriot Cilik” and “Si Bulan Koki Super”, while tvOne collaborated with PT. Merah Putih Berkibar (MPB) and PT. Oneprix Motorsport Manajemen (OMM) to bring one pride and one prix sports coverage to FTA TV platforms, mobile streaming applications, and tvOne YouTube channels. VIVA Networks also inked a strategic cooperation with Suara Merdeka Network, the leading local media in Central java. This collaboration will strengthen VIVA group’s hyper-localized content while Suara Merdeka Network benefits from more comprehensive national and lifestyle news with the support of VIVA group’s expertise in IT, distribution, and monetization.
These efforts have firmly placed VIVA group on the path to growth as an integrated media company whose national FTA TV presence is effectively complemented by its fast expanding digital presence.
On Good Corporate Governance (GCG) side, consistent implementation of GCG principles is a high priority for the management. We make every effort to comply with applicable rules and regulations, maintain strong internal controls, communicate transparently, and effectively manage the Company’s overall risk exposure. Along the same lines, as part of our responsibility as a good corporate citizen, we are also committed to maintaining a safe and productive workplace and producing good quality content for the benefit of the Indonesian people. We also carried out various CSR efforts focused on the areas of education, religious assistance, and disaster relief for victims of natural disasters throughout the nation.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, we would like thank the Board of the Commissioners for their direction and recommendation as well as to all of VIVA group’s employees for their perseverance and loyalty as we continue our transformation into a digitally-enabled company in accordance with the requirements of Industry 4.0 and a digital age. Finally, we would also like to communicate our sincere appreciation to all of our shareholders and stakeholders for their support. We believe that collaboration is very important to drive engagement and achieve growth for the Company’s goals in the digital era.
Yours sincerely,
Anindya Novyan Bakrie
President Director